The acceptance of robotics among the military is growing. A prime example is Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). UAVs have provided a necessary capability of reconnaissance and attack mission in high-risk scenarios, where a human pilot could lose his life. UAVs are used not only by the US Air Force, but also by the US Marine Corps and US Army. The UAV is a tremendous success story for how robotics can positively change the dynamics of the battlefield and allow for the standoff of humans from dangerous areas of operations.
The field of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), both small and large, is expected to adopt some degree of autonomy to fulfill military missions. If the technology advances, UGVs could see widespread adoption similar to UAVs. To an extent, this process is already in its early stages. For example, USSOCOM's SANDI program is tasked with building and deploying approximately six unmanned, autonomous ground robotic High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) to operational areas in Afghanistan. These HMMWVs are designed to drive common paths and detect unexploded IEDs. There has also been significant use of small UGVs in IED defeat missions. Many times, these UGVs are equipped with manipulators that interrogate and disable a suspected IED. However, these small UGVs rarely have any autonomous capabilities.
How would the battlefield change if there were autonomous robotic systems that could explore structure interiors and share the information with humans? A clear consequence would be greater intelligence prior to entering and clearing a building. It would also be possible to quickly and accurately survey a structure's interior. Consider a survey operation at a tunnel or bunker network in a hostile region. Surveys help facilitate successful air strikes (e.g., targeted ground depth, knowledge of air shafts, and ordinance selection). Depending on the size of the structure, a survey could take several days. What if the same structure could be autonomously explored by several ground robotic platforms and achieve similar accuracy in a matter of hours? Advantages to this capability include the timely removal of personnel from danger, more precise targeting information and increased mission speed.